Manuel Isaías Abúndio da Silva

Lawyer, professor, writer, and journalist. After attending high school in Viana do Castelo, he enrolled at the University of Coimbra, where he first graduated in theology at the desire of his ancestors that he follow an ecclesiastical life, which did not attract him and subsequently led him to graduate in law. Coming from a modest family, his stay in Coimbra was only made possible thanks to a grant awarded by the Duchess of Cadaval, the help of his aunt and uncle, Carlota and Sebastião, and the work he carried out compiling course lecture notes (sebentas) for the courses in which he was enrolled. The family environment in which Abúndio da Silva grew up, anchored in the principles of the Church and enveloped in a certain nostalgia for the old legitimist monarchy, deeply marked his personality and thought. «Educated and raised in the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion» — as he himself states in his will (which the newspaper A Aurora do Lima published shortly after his death on 21 October 1914, and which contains precious autobiographical elements) — «it has been the greatest and most enthusiastic love of all my life, and to its defense I have given the best of my efforts and labors.» It was during his university life that he published the legitimist magazine A Bandeira Branca, which he founded and directed while in his fourth year at the University of Coimbra, printed in Viana at the printing press «André J. Pereira & Filho, 40, Rua de D. Diniz», with his uncle Manuel Nicolau da Silva as the responsible publisher. Twenty-three issues of this magazine were published (from 19 March 1893 to 4 February 1894), with contributions from, among others, Sebastião Pereira da Cunha, Santos Farinha, António Cabreira, Sena de Freitas, José Pereira da Costa, Mello Soares, and Gaspar d'Abreu. It was also during this period of his youth that he published some of his books of poetry, such as Alma Pátria, dedicated to «King» Miguel II; Maria, a Christian poemetto; and Cantos d'Alma, which he dedicated to his family and friends. Abúndio da Silva married Lúcia de Sousa Pereira in September 1896 and died without leaving descendants at just 40 years of age, a victim of tuberculosis, confessing in his will a certain discouragement and incomprehension: «Having occupied a certain prominence in the Catholic movement of my country, I went through many sorrows and endured many injustices, committed mainly by those who confess to be my brothers in faith, but who seem to place other interests above those of the Church of Jesus.» By testamentary wish, his body was buried wrapped in a Franciscan habit, in accordance with his ideal of a simple and humble life which he always defended. «Capital and Wages», «History through History», «Population Theory», «The Evolution of Contracts», and «The Classification of Phenomena and Social Sciences» were some of the themes Abúndio da Silva addressed in interesting studies and dissertations, making him an unusual and «brilliant worker of letters». Among his diverse contributions to the press, special mention goes to the periodicals A Palavra and Correio Nacional, where he maintained, with remarkable eloquence, campaigns related to the disagreement that arose in our country between Jesuits and Franciscans. In the last years of his life, he directed a short-lived daily newspaper in Porto entitled Democracia do Norte.